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Questions & Answers about Tämä tie on jyrkkä.
What part of speech is tämä, and how is it used here?
tämä is a demonstrative determiner (like this in English). It must agree with the noun (tie) in case and number. Here both are in the nominative singular, so tämä tie means this road.
Why doesn’t tie have a case ending in Tämä tie on jyrkkä?
In Finnish the subject of a sentence is in the nominative case, which is unmarked in the singular. Since tämä tie is the subject and jyrkkä is a predicate adjective, both stay in the nominative singular (no extra ending).
Why is jyrkkä not inflected for case, and how do predicate adjectives work after the verb olla?
Predicate adjectives following olla (“to be”) remain in the nominative singular (if they describe a singular noun). There is no separate “predicate case” – the adjective simply describes the subject without changing its form.
What is on, and what is its infinitive form?
on is the third person singular present tense of the verb olla (to be). The full infinitive form is olla.
How would you turn Tämä tie on jyrkkä into a question meaning Is this road steep?
Flip the verb and subject and use the question form:
Onko tämä tie jyrkkä?
Here onko is the interrogative form of on.
How do you pronounce jyrkkä? Specifically, what sound does y represent, and how do you handle the double k?
jyrkkä is pronounced [ˈjyrkːæ]:
- y = close front rounded vowel (like German ü)
- r = a short rolled or tapped r
- kk = a long /kː/ sound (holds slightly longer than a single k)
- ä = open front unrounded vowel (like the a in cat)
How would you say This is a steep road instead of This road is steep?
Use tämä as the subject and make jyrkkä tie the nominal predicate:
Tämä on jyrkkä tie.
How do you make Tämä tie on jyrkkä plural: These roads are steep?
You pluralize demonstrative, noun, verb and adjective:
Nämä tiet ovat jyrkät.
- tämä → nämä (demonstrative plural)
- tie → tiet (nominative plural)
- on → ovat (3rd person plural of olla)
- jyrkkä → jyrkät (adjective nominative plural)
How do you compare two roads, saying This road is steeper than that one?
Use the comparative form jyrkempi (from jyrkkä) plus kuin for “than”:
Tämä tie on jyrkempi kuin tuo tie.
What’s the difference between tämä, tuo, and se in Finnish?
All three are demonstratives:
- tämä = this (near the speaker)
- tuo = that (near the listener or a bit farther away)
- se = it/that (neutral or general reference, often for something already mentioned)